Situated on the northern slopes of the Stara Planina, or Balkan Mountains, this small town was a major Revival period centre where the arts and crafts flourished. A number of important Bulgarian poets, revolutionaries and entrepreneurs were born there, and now Bulgarian children are regularly taken to see it in school tours.

A scandal in GERB's Bulgaria usually lasts for a couple of days as it is superseded by the next scandal to keep the public busy and thinking about things other than the politics and the problems of the day. One scandal in November, however, lasted well over a week. Interestingly, it did not involve some high-profile entrepreneur who was arrested over allegations that will probably not hold water in court or some fragile woman who gets chained by the Bulgarian police. It involved… modern art.

Books about Bulgarian history in foreign languages are few and far between. This is particularly true for this nation's recent past as a Communist country. While some international researchers with an interest in 20th century history are aware that Bulgaria was a loyal Soviet ally between 1944 and 1989, just a limited number know what Bulgaria and its people looked like under Communism. Even most younger Bulgarians do not know much about this period of their country's past while the older generations increasingly feel nostalgic about it.